


In Between

by wellthatjusthappend



Series: Merfolk AU [8]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Hatchlings, I was surprised too, Jason's first mission, M/M, MerMay 2018, cross spiecies mutations, exploration of Mer culture, league of shadows, merbabies, not explicit can you believe it?, referenced talia/bruce non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 19:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14625789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellthatjusthappend/pseuds/wellthatjusthappend
Summary: Dick had lived his whole life in between. Born a Mer, but raised in a circus full of human’s away from his own kind. Someone had once asked him if he’d ever wished he was born human. Dick wished he knew how to explain that he really liked being a Mer and playing in the human world. Helikedbeing situated in between the two cultures… it was just lonely sometimes.





	In Between

**Author's Note:**

> Comes late to MerMay with coffee: shall we begin?

Dick refrained from stabbing Jason for the nth time as the Mer fired off a torpedo that came far too close to him.

“Watch it…” He hissed at him.

“Don’t get in my way then,” Jason snarled back showing his teeth. It was hard not to react to that, especially because Jason was younger and being deliberately provocative. But Dick could be the mature one.

“We have to cooperate,” he tried for a gentler tone, “Tim and Bruce are depending on us. We can’t be fighting each other right now.”

“I don’t know about you Goldfish, but I can multitask.” Jason said flaring his fins in a challenge. Dick wrinkled his nose at the nickname; Goldfish were the most popular fish for humans to keep as pets. Domesticated little stupid things that were pretty to look at but not good for much else. He was obviously taking a dig at the fact that Dick let himself be kept by first the circus and then Bruce.

Jason was just young and eager to show off his strength for his his pretty human lover, Dick reminded himself, and since Dick was the only other potential “competition” around a lot of that posturing was directed towards him. However, Dick knew Tim well enough that he was pretty sure he’d just be irritated with them for fighting instead of focusing on the mission. Eventually Jason would figure that out too.

“Focus.” Dick said.

“Fine,” Jason huffed helped Dick clear the rubble in front of the opening Jason had created.

“The league of shadows is very strong, we won’t be able to take them on by ourselves,” Dick reminded Jason, “But if we work together, we can create and opening for Bruce and Tim to put a stop to the most recent weapons shipment. It will at least slow them down for a bit.”

“We should destroy them completely,” Jason grumbled.

“We will destroy the base,” Dick agreed, “but no killing.”

Jason muttered something quietly in Mermish that Dick couldn’t quite catch but he could guess by the tone.

He expected more trouble from Jason, but for the most part he behaved. They took out the guards by coming up from underneath the fort and made it so that there would be no backup coming when Bruce and Tim challenged the Talia. Thinking about Talia being in the same room as Bruce still made Dick’s teeth almost ache with the need to tear into her. Merfolk didn’t have clear concept of rape, Jason likely wouldn’t understand why he was mad about someone taking victors rights, but Dick had lived his whole life among humans and the idea of Bruce having his wishes violated in that way filled Dick with fury.

Still, his mate was a powerful warrior so he let them duke it out while he and Jason played backup. Dick focused on setting up the explosive charges while Jason incapacitated any stray Mer that came their way. There weren’t many, since most were being called to support Talia, but he was brutal with the ones with who did come. Dick didn’t comment since he was keeping them alive at least.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Dick murmured when they were back in the lower caves by the exit they’d created.

“We can’t blow it up yet,” Insisted Jason suddenly striking out at Dick and knocking away the trigger.

“What are you doing Jason?” Dick hissed unable to stop himself from baring his teeth at the other Mer, the other’s behavior really wearing on Dick’s instincts to respond aggressively in turn.

“Look!” Jason pointed, “Don’t you see what this place is?”

The fact that Jason wasn’t responding to the slight challenge was enough to give Dick pause. He followed Jason’s finger and saw a section of the sand in the cave had been worn away by water frequently running over it. There were dozens of them all over, although none quite this big.

“So this cave fills and drains with water, we already knew that.” Dick said impatiently.

“You don’t fucking know anything about anything do you?” Jason gave him a disdainful look, “That’s obviously a brooding trail; There’s a nest somewhere around here.”

“I- what?” Dick blinked. He didn’t have a lot of reference about brooding or nests. In the circus, there had been a artificially constructed place in the tanks for them to guard their eggs where no one would bother them. Once he started living with Bruce, the man had helped him construct his own little nook in the cave walls.

“We can’t blow this place if there’s hatchlings,” Jason said firmly hoisting himself up onto the sand and starting to drag himself up further into the cave. Dick could see now that the groves in the sand would match the heavy drag of a slightly smaller Mer’s tail and the uneven bumps where they would dig their hands deep in the sand to pull themselves forward.

“Why would someone make their nest on land?” Dick asked pulling himself after Jason.

“Fuck, you’re such a Goldfish,” muttered Jason, “There will be a pool up here somewhere. It’s preferable to find a deep tidepool for a nest because it’s far away from where most Merfolk live in the deeps and brooders don’t tolerate anything coming close to hatchlings. And this way, not many predators will be able to get at the eggs.”

“Oh,” Dick said feeling that nasty feeling in his stomach he always got whenever he encountered some basic (common sense) part of Mer or human culture that he just didn’t know about.

“Are you sulking?” Jason paused.

“A little,” admitted Dick pulling himself up next to Jason in the sand. Jason glared at him before grabbing Dick’s ear and pulling a little painfully, “Hey-”

“Don’t be annoying,” Jason snapped, “You know you’re practically perfect even as a Goldfish. The Warrior choose you as his mate, or did you forget that? Do you need me to mark you up a bit to remind you that you’re worthy?”

Warmth swelled in his chest.

“You’d do that?” asked Dick softly.

“Sure, you’re not always bad Dickhead,” Jason rolled his head one way and the other in the manner that Dick had recently discovered was common for Merfolk from the trenches, similar to how a shrug would be used in human culture. Dick felt a gush of affection for the younger Mer knowing how huge it was that Jason was fond enough of him that he wanted to mark him as worthy. Like a close companion or family member.

“Thank you, that would mean a lot, Jason,” Dick murmured seriously.

“Whatever,” Jason said flushing a little and continuing to claw his way forward in the coarse sand.

It only took them a little longer for a bright green glow to emerge in front of them. Dick and Jason exchanged a wary glance and continued.

Jason had been right about one thing: it was clearly supposed to be a nest. A fucked up nest. Almost certainly Talia al Ghul’s too given that it was right next to a Lazarus pool and it was clearly supposed to be a secret. The eggs though… they looked wrong. You could see inside them for one, a membrane instead of a soft shell and pulsing weirdly.

“What _are_ they?” Jason asked in horror. Dick looked closer and saw what he meant and felt his stomach turn uneasily. Almost all the hatchlings inside the eggs seemed to be mutated somehow. They also seemed to already be decaying before they even finished developing. It was immensely disturbing. Not until Dick spotted partially developed legs on a few of the dead ones that he understood.

“She’s trying to create half human Merbabies,” Dick murmured. And he could guess who’s given the Al Ghul’s famous obsession with the Dark Knight.

“Is- is this what happens when…?” Jason looked sick and confused.

“This doesn’t look natural,” Dick assured Jason assuming he was worried about any potential future hatchlings with Tim, “None the eggs I’ve ever had with Bruce have ever looked anything like this.”

None of them had ever hatched either though.

Jason still looked troubled though.

“Nightfin, what’s your status?” Bruce’s voice crackled in faintly on his radio.

“We have a situation here Bruce,” Dick said wearily as he told him about the mutated hatchlings.

“I’ll confront Talia about this,” Bruce said tensely after some silence, “if they are all dead then I want you to continue with the plan and get out of there.”

“Alright, see you soon. Nightfin out,” Dick said disconnecting, “come on Jason, let’s- Jason!”

The other Mer ignored him as he slipped into the pool and swam carefully to the far side.

“Jason! There’s probably Lazarus water mixed in there!” hissed Dick worriedly not knowing how it might affect Jason to breathe the evil water in.

“Dick, one of them is still alive,” Jason said softly.

“What?” blinked Dick.

“Dick- Dick, he’s developed enough I think he could survive outside the egg.” Jason said a little desperately.

Dick breathed out a little raggedly as he tried to process that.

“Are you sure?” Dick said at last.

“Yes.” Jason said.

“Ok, ok, right,” Dick dragged a hand through his hair in a gesture he’d learned from humans, “You think we could help him hatch and take him with us?”

“We have to.” Jason looked up and met his gaze unblinkingly.

“Ok,” Dick took a deep breath, “Go for it.”

It was an interesting process to watch. Dick had never seen any eggs hatch and he certainly hadn't seen an assisted hatching. Jason seemed to know what he was doing though. In just a few moment’s there was a new little Merbaby wiggling its way into Jason’s arms. Unlike the other hatchlings, this one didn’t didn’t seem to have any obvious mutations looking like a normal healthy Merbaby, although perhaps a little on the small side.

Something wasn’t right though. The Merbaby’s face was growing purple and it was thrashing around in mounting distress.

Jason caught on before he did, snatching the tiny Mer out of the water and pressing hard on the Merbaby’s chest and helping it cough out the water it’d inhaled. And then gasp and gasp and start to shriek.

Jason and Dick stared at each other in shock and horror.

“It breathes air?” Dick managed, Jason nodded back looking a little freaked and uncertain.

“What are we going to do? How do we even get him out of the caves?” Jason asked worriedly.

“Let’s get back to the clean water and we’ll figure something out.” Dick decided. Jason didn’t fight him, just adjusted his grip on the bawling child and wiggled forward enough forward that he could slide down the slope of wet sand back towards the uninfected water. Dick tried to mimic his technique and found it much easier to slide back down.

“That’s sick, that’s so sick, I’m going to kill that piece of shit; You don’t fucking experiment with hatchlings.” Jason snarled as he checked the Merbaby over for any other problems.

“Bruce will catch her,” Dick said.

“And what? Slap her wrists? She needs to be ripped to pieces,” Jason said angrily, even as he rubbed soothing circles over the little Mer until it stopped crying and settled a bit. Dick swam close feeling his instincts rise protectively. Mer were naturally enthralled with young, regardless of if they were their own. He frowned as he saw the way Jason had to keep steading the Merbaby’s head above the water.

“He can’t seem to support it on his own.” Dick noted frowning.

“He should be able to,” Jason fretted uncertainly, “What’s wrong with him?”

“I… Actually I think that’s normal for human babies?” Dick said uncertainty.

“What the fuck? Really? Why?” Jason demanded.

“I have no idea.” Dick admitted, though he helped show Jason how humans generally held their young. The other Mer looked disgruntled and worried and Dick couldn’t blame him, “Want me to take him?”

Jason reluctantly handed him over and began to restlessly swim around the cave. The Merbaby had murky eyes that Dick though would likely turn out to be a bright blue like Bruce’s. He looked very uncertain about Dick holding him and Dick honestly didn’t feel much better.

“Little Bird,” Jason resurfaced to answer his com, “We have a change of plans: we’re going to need you to blow another hole higher up in the cave. No listen, I know it’s not part of the plan but we have a hatchling with a human-ish head and set of lungs. Yes ,you heard me right. We have a rebreather, but we’d have to swim down pretty deep and humans usually have trouble handling the pressure so far under and your young are probably even more sensitive, right?”

Dick hadn’t even thought of that.

“Ok.” Jason agreed to whatever Tim was saying on the other end, “Ok, yeah, of course. You’ll tell the Warrior? Ok. Yes. See you soon Little Bird.”

“This cave will flood if they blow a hole higher up,” Dick frowned.

“And it increases the risk of the explosions getting triggered early,” Jason nodded in agreement, “One of us could technically swim out early though.”

Dick knew neither of their instincts would allow that though.

“Ok, we can do this.” Dick said, “Hopefully no League find us in the meantime.”

They were lucky in the end. Tim blew a hole in the ceiling and immediately plugged it with a rescue tube. Immediately fishers started to form and water pour in anyway but they had enough time to pull first Jason and Damian, and then Dick up into the Batship. Never before had the sight of water rushing into a space made Dick feel anxious before. Jason looked stressed as well.

Behind them, Dick could see the cave collapsing as the explosions triggered and Merfolk(League of Shadows members) start to swarm the area. The Batship was already speeding away though. Normally, Dick and Jason would swim alongside it, but instead they both opted to stay in the ship. Thankfully the ship had been built to accommodate Merfolk or they would never had both fit inside a regular craft.

Tim had wrapped the Merbaby in a soaked towel to keep it hydrated and was sitting on the floor by Jason’s transportation tank watching it a little wearily. Jason seemed to be frustrated that he couldn’t have the Merbaby in the tank with him and kept popping his head up to talk at the hatchling or to Tim. Dick wouldn’t have expected the aggressive Mer to like hatchlings so much Jason really seemed pretty excited about it all.

“His name is Damian apparently,” Bruce told Dick quietly where they were up by the console. Dick would need to drag himself to his own transportation tank soon enough, but he hated confined spaces so he’d stay out in the air as long as he could. The Nightfin suit would help him retain moisture longer anyway.

“She prepicked it?” asked Dick frowning.

“Just in case one of them survived,” Bruce confirmed, “She told me that before she found out about his ‘defects’. I have no doubt though that this little one would have been abandoned as soon as it became apparent that it could not survive on its own. Otherwise she planned to keep trying until she had the ‘perfect’ heir.”

“That’s sick,” said Dick glancing at where Jason and Tim were playing with Merbaby. He watched Tim tentatively reach out only to quickly snatch his hand back at as the baby took a snap at him with itty bitty sharp teeth. Jason laughed at him and them cooed at the hatchling in Mermish (he was pretty sure that it was the atlantic trench dialect which is where he guessed Jason was most likely from. Jason said his accent was appalling though so he wouldn’t let Dick practice all that much) praising him and telling the Merbaby what a fierce little warrior he was already.

Dick had a feeling Jason was going to become a favorite for the little one.

“He’s staying with us, right?” Dick checked.

“He is my son,” Bruce said as if that decided it. Dick nodded, aware that humans had a lot of ideas about biological relations for whatever reason. Merfolk were generally much less picky since eggs matured on the outside and so the Mer who ended up brooding over them was not necessarily always the Mer that laid them. As for Dick- as usual- he felt his view landed somewhere in between on the matter.

Dick had to go back into his tank shortly after that and he spent the rest of the trip back to the cave thinking about how this little Merbaby was likely going to change their lives.

“You all did very well,” Bruce paised when they were all back in the cave again and free from their armor, “But this last mission will only slow the League down a little bit. We need to be on guard for what they plan next and what carefully how the atlanteans and humans respond to this violence. Atlanteans know how to differentiate League from regular Merfolk, but humans have shown themselves in the past to be much less decerening. This could quickly become a bloody conflict.”

“If it’s involving Merfolk, it’s going to be a bloody conflict,” Jason grumbled, “I think you should be more worried about what happens after the league successfully destroys more prominent Mer and human strongholds.”

“What do you mean Jay?” Tim asked twisting around from where he had been leaning against Jason’s chest in the water.

“Merfolk respect power and feats of strength,” Jason said inclining his head towards them, “If the league keeps conquering territories, they are going to start attracting a lot of new Mer followers.”

“Even if the league is killing Mer too?” asked Dick. He knew at once that was a comment that marked him as domesticated by the look Jason gave him.

“So long as the league doesn’t attack any nests, each attack is only going to make them more attractive,” Jason said, surprisingly not making a comment about Dick’s lack of knowledge.

“What do you suggest?” Bruce asked.

“Destroy them,” Jason said without missing a beat.

“No,” Bruce said immediately.

“Leaving them alive and intact will only make us look weak and won’t help keep more Mer from joining up,” Jason insisted, “It will convince them that we _can’t_ and that the league must truly be the stronger group in the end.”

“We do not kill,” Bruce said firmly glaring at Jason. The Mer kept his eyes lowered and his head tilted ever so slightly submissively but otherwise radiated aggression and disapproval. Dick knew that it was left over from Bruce scruffing Jason a while back. Jason now had some conflicting instincts about Bruce being his brooder that he should obey, but he was also fully grown a likely embarrassed to treated like a hatchling in front the person he wanted to court.

“Could we maybe humiliate them somehow instead?” asked Tim looking between them nervously.

“How?” asked Jason darkly.

“That’s enough,” Bruce said sharply, “we’ll revisit this conversation again once we have more information.”

“Yes, Bruce,” Tim accepted. Jason looked like he was going to argue more but Tim was leaning back against him, tilting his he head on Jason’s shoulder as he got comfortable and the young Mer was instantly distracted. Dick didn’t blame him. Dick doubted Tim realized he was bearing his neck to Jason, or if he did, Dick doubted Tim understood what that kind of gesture usually meant in Mer culture. It wasn’t dissimilar to a human spreading their legs invitingly for another. Whatever issues he had with Bruce definitely not on the Mer’s mind now. Jason looked flustered and excited that his lover was willing to make such a bold display of intent in front of another Mer and their leader.

If Tim kept that kind of behavior up, he was going to end up mated to Jason for real sooner rather than later.

“Come on Bruce,” Dick urged him, partially because he was quite certain that Jason was going to start trying to seduce Tim soon and partially because Damian was starting to make soft fusy sounds, “we should talk to Alfred about figuring out what kinds of food Damian is going to be able to eat.”

“I’ll also need to ascertain what sort of habitat is going to work best for him,” Bruce sighed.

“I can hold him while you draw up some plans,” Dick offered.

“That would probably be best,” agreed Bruce looking immensely tired. Dick lifted himself out of the water to press comfortingly against his mate.

There was a squeak and a splash behind them and Dick turned to see only rippling water where Jason and Tim had been sitting. He felt Bruce tense slightly and Dick bumped his head against him scoldingly.

“Jason has been behaving,” Dick reminded Bruce, “He’s been holding off on the Mer courting. Tim will be fine.”

“He could change his mind,” Bruce growled, “He isn’t exactly obedient.”

“Not unless Tim asks,” Dick disagreed holding in laughter, “You kind of, uh, made it so that it will be significantly distressing for him to go against you explicit wishes.”

“The scruffing,” Bruce said thoughtfully. It was a lot more than that for Merfolk, but Dick wasn’t sure Bruce could or would want to understand the ways he’d claimed and declared his authority over Jason as a parent. He hadn’t exactly acted particularly enthusiastic about the prospect of Damian after all. Dick would try to break it down for him later, although truthfully it was something he only sort of understood in theory himself.

“Let’s get me to a tub,” Dick urged Bruce instead, “Water will be good for Damian, but I don’t want it to be too deep.”

The more it felt like a nest, the more Damian was likely to settle.

Bruce grunted his agreement and helped Dick into the pulley so he could get himself in the tub close to the work station. As soon as Dick was settled, Bruce brought the squirming wet towel they had wrapped Damian in that they’d used to keep the Merbaby’s skin and scales from drying out while keeping him out of the transportation water pods he wouldn’t be able survive in.

“You’ll be alright?” Bruce asked as he handed the hatchling over.

“Of course,” Dick waved him off and Bruce gratefully retreated very quickly.

Dick refrained from laughing at him too much.

“Hey little one,” Dick said unwrapping the Merbaby from the towel so he could settle on his back against the scales of Dick’s tail in the shallow water, “That’s much better, isn’t it?”

In response, Damian screeched and started wriggled around. Merbabies biologically meant to be difficult to hold onto in the water; They secreted a thin mucus on their scales and skin under stress that made them extremely slippery as a defence mechanism while they were young. Dick tried to remember how his parents handled him when he was like this, but he was pretty sure they just let him tantrum and swim around until he tired himself out… maybe with a warning (gentle) bif with their tails if he was getting into anything too dangerous. He wasn’t sure what the normal procedure was in the wild. He’d have to ask Jason.

He had a feeling that none of that was going to work with Damian though: Dick had to hang onto him or the Merbaby would drown.

“We’re going to have to make you a oxygen mask until you get some breath control, aren’t we?” Dick grimaced.

Damian bared sharp little baby teeth at him and hissed.

“Hey, hey, you don’t need to do that with me: you’re safe,” Dick tried to sooth.

Damian responded by thrashing some more and dunking himself in the water as Dick lost his grip on him. The Merbaby spluttered looking affronted and started to bawl. Like a human baby. It was probably because of his human lungs, but it was still deeply unsettling to hear. It wasn’t like Dick ever had spent time with human or Merbabies. He had always wanted his own though.

And with that thought came an idea.

He had a feeling Bruce might freak out. But then again, he didn’t seem to truly understand what he’d done with Jason so maybe not. And anyway, Damian was Bruce’s child and Dick was his mate. He had been trying unsuccessfully to hatch their own eggs for years. Dick didn’t know if it was because he was infertile or because it was so tricky for human and Mer genetics to mutate in the correct ways to create life. Over time, Dick had accepted that it wasn’t something that could ever happen for them. But now…

They’d have to soon anyway: Mer young still needed lots of nurture in the early stages.

Very very carefully, Dick splayed his fingers across the Merbaby’s wiggling back and slowly pressed. Damian stopped crying quite so hard and blinked big, angry, confused eyes up at him. Heart pounding a bit, Dick adjusted his hold a little better and pressed again.

Damian relaxed completely in his hold and made a soft, tentative, coo. A special sound reserved for Mer calling for their parents. It made Dick’s heart feel a little too full as he gave another reassuring squeeze and his own answering hum. Damian gave a stronger pleased trill and pressed back into his hold. Hesitantly, with his free hand, Dick gently touched the downy round little cheeks. Chasing after the touch, the little Merbaby started to give his fingers clumsy and affectionate little bites.

Dick wasn’t quite prepared for the swell of instincts and affection that was suddenly inside him.

A deep sound built in his chest until it was rumbling past his lips as Dick lifted the Merbaby to lay against his shoulder with his small head tucked under his chin. Damian gave another happy trill and several more little sharp nips. Words could not describe the sheer joy that caused Dick. Merbaby teeth weren’t quite strong enough to break tough Mer skin, but Dick was pretty sure he was going to get pretty emotional the first time his baby gave him a scar.

Damian continued to nuzzle and bite him until the Merbaby drifted to sleep.

“I am glad Master Damian seems to have settled,” Alfred said coming over with a tray, “When he wakes, I have an assortment of food and formulas we can try to see if any of them suits- goodness gracious!”

Alfred stumbled out of the way as Dick struck out with his tail awkwardly from the tub when the butler got too close.

“Master Dick, whatever has come over you?” Alfred said carefully keeping a wide berth between them as he set the tray down on the desk as Dick raised his tail again and showed him his teeth warningly. He loved Alfred a lot but the human butler had never gone through any trials to prove himself to Dick. He hadn’t had to because Dick liked him and Dick didn’t need to usually go through Mer customs with his human friends and companions. But with a Merbaby it felt different. Anything unproven or unknown near Damian suddenly felt very alarming.

Dick tried to tell himself that Alfred was safe and would never hurt any of them but his instincts wouldn’t stop screaming.

“What’s going on here?” asked Bruce returning to investigate.

“I’m not entirely sure, Master Bruce, but I do believe I will let you field this one.” Alfred said slowly retreating.

“Dick,” Bruce frowned stepping forward.

Dick growled low and deep, mounting in volume as Bruce got closer, hiding Damian with his body while keeping his tail poised for attack. Bruce wisely stopped his approach, frown deepening as he took in Dick’s defensive position and the sleeping Merbaby.

“Dick,” he started again, “I’m not going to hurt him. You know that. He’s my son.”

Dick glowered at him. He wasn’t sure Bruce realized that biological siring an egg didn’t mean very much to Merfolk. A nest of eggs might have several different sires, none of which were necessarily safe to be around Merbabies. It was the brooders that protected the young. Sometimes this happened with the help of a mate. Sometimes brooders protected abandoned nests. All Mer had brooding instincts, but they only applied to their chosen nests and young.

“You know you can trust me,” Bruce said continuing his slow approach with his hands up to show they were empty, “You know that, you know _me,_ ”

Dick slowly let his growling peter off as he tried to calm himself. He should probably duck under water soon since his lungs were starting to burn but that would mean moving Damian who shouldn’t have his head under water yet. He let his eyes fix on a bite scar he’d given Bruce when the man first told him he loved him.

Mate.

Bruce never let them court properly or mate in fully in Mer terms, but he was. He would always be Dick’s mate even if they never got to put mating marks on each other. And- and as Dick’s mate he could come near his baby.

“Sorry, I-” Dick swallowed as his lungs burned some more, “It’s a little overwhelming. My instincts are- I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

“Dick, when did you last breathe?” Bruce asked worriedly kneeling down next to the tub.

Dick let out a soft little whimper in response, clutching Damian close.

“Let me keep his head out of the water while you take a breath,” Bruce insisted firmly but gently reaching out.

Mate, mate, mate, Dick had to chant in his head to stop himself from ripping Bruce’s arm off. It was harder than Dick believed possible for him to let Bruce untuck Damian’s head from underneath his chin so Dick could duck under water. When he resurfaced, Damian was already making fretful little sound in his sleep.

“Shh, shh, I’ve got you baby,” Dick crooned resettling him. Damian quieted almost immediately and fell back asleep.

“Was he biting you?” Bruce asked frowning as he touched the indents on Dick’s skin.

“Yeah, normal for Merbabies with their parents,” Dick mumbled.

“Dick…” Bruce started cautiously, “I’m not sure this is wise. These instincts are affecting you strongly enough that you lashed out and Alfred and almost at me as well.”

“A bit late for that, Bruce,” Dick laughed a little warily, “It’d be a little traumatizing to separate at this point for both of us.”

There was a troubled pause as Bruce searched his face.

“Did you know this would happen?” Bruce asked.

“Some of it,” admitted Dick, “I triggered it on purpose. He was really distressed and I realized that part of it was likely being taken away from his nest and handled by so many strangers. He never got to imprint on Talia, but Merbabies _need_ lots of contact with another Mer in the beginning stages of development or they don’t survive. If there are many hatchlings, they’ll all sleep in a big pile tucked against whoever’s been brooding them. Damian needs this and a human wouldn’t know what to give him. It had to be me or Jason and frankly I don’t think Jason’s ready to be a full time parent.”

“And you are?” Bruce inquired, his face cast in shadows.

“Yes,” Dick said with certainty, “As I can be anyway. You know I’ve wanted your hatchlings for years.”

“I do,” admitted Bruce looking at Damian with a conflicted expression on his face before looking back at Dick and fondly touching his cheek. It was so soft. Gentle touches used to baffle Dick’s instincts but he’d grown to love them over his years with humans. Especially from Bruce.

Dick leaned into the touch and let his eyes close as Bruce tilted his face up for a kiss.

“Are you going to be able to tolerate people near Damian?” Bruce asked when they broke apart.

“Not really,” admitted Dick, “Just you for a while. When he get’s bigger it will be better.”

“We’ll figure something out,” decided Bruce.

“I’d like a nest,” Dick said, “something safe, but where Damian can breathe. You wouldn’t believe how much it’s driving me crazy that I can’t take him back to my usual spot.”

“I’ll look into it,” promised Bruce kissing him again and Dick let himself fully relax; he had such a worthy mate.

Dick would make sure to shower Damian in every expression of parental love- human and Mer- that Dick knew. Bruce would pick up the slack on anything he missed. His baby should always know with absolute certainty what a worthy treasure he was. Things were going to be hard for Damian: he straddled the line between Mer and human and he wouldn’t be able to participate fully in either given his biology. But Dick would be there to guide him through it.

He had some experience living in between after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope to get one more of these in before the end of the month that’s a little more Jaytim centric. If you’re curious about my writing schedule, I actually have a page for that on Tumblr([x](https://wellthatjusthappend.tumblr.com/mywriting)) that I try to keep up to date. Or if you want to rant to me about head cannons and AUs I am always up for that as well :)


End file.
